


Coin or Conviction

by phdfan



Series: A Moth-Eaten Scarf [43]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: First Impressions, Gen, POV Anders (Dragon Age), Second impressions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 19:37:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phdfan/pseuds/phdfan
Summary: Anders recalls his first meeting with Hawke.





	Coin or Conviction

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 'introductions' prompt in fan_flashworks.

Anders had not heard of Hawke before he met her – it was only later that he learned of the reputation she had earned among the Red Iron – but he did not need her reputation to warn him that a trained killer was walking through the door of his clinic. It was written in every movement of her body. And her eyes were focused on him. There was only one reason he could think of that a mercenary would be coming for him. The Templars or the Grey Wardens, there was little difference. He would not be going back.

He felt Justice surge to wakefulness inside him as he grasped his staff and turned on her. And was surprised when she stopped advancing and chose to talk instead.

Anders, as a rule, did not consort with mercenaries. He had little respect for those who killed for coin rather than conviction. But he had a need, and she had the means, so he brokered a deal. Hawke’s help in rescuing Karl, in return for the Deep Road maps. It wasn’t like he was ever planning to use them himself.

He hadn’t expected to have anything more to do with her after the fiasco that was his attempted rescue. Karl was dead, and Anders had shown far more about himself than had been wise. It would be a miracle if she didn’t bring the Templars down on his head.

Alone in the clinic, her voice was the last thing he had expected to hear.

“Anders?”

He was slumped on the ground beside one of the patient cots, and had been muffling his sobs-turned-screams in the thin blankets that covered it. At the sound of his name, he looked up.

There she was. Standing awkwardly in the doorway of the clinic.

“You barely know me,” she said diffidently, her eyes darting around to rest on anything and everything not Anders. “But I wanted to say that I’m sorry. For what happened to Karl.”

Anders blinked stinging eyes. What was she doing here? He didn’t believe her words for a second. Then it struck him. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.

“Don’t worry, I’ll honour our deal. You’ll get your maps.” He buried his face back into the cot’s threadbare blankets, and willed her to go away.

He heard Hawke take a step, then another, until she was close enough to lay a hand on his feathered pauldrons. Anders stiffened at her touch.

“That’s not why I’m here,” she said. “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

It took a moment for her words to sink in. He lifted his head again, took another look at her. She seemed to pick up on his scepticism.

Hawke shrugged, and removed her hand from his shoulder. “I can’t say that I understand everything that’s going on. But you know that my sister is a mage.” She shrugged again, as if that explained everything. As if families never turned out their own if they manifested magic. Perhaps that was the way that her world worked. It wasn’t the way his had.

But she was trying.

“Thank you,” he said, and coughed to clear his throat before continuing. “For trying to help with Karl. And… for caring. But I meant what I said: you’ll get your map.”

“I’ll use it to make sure the same thing never happens to Bethany.” Her voice was hard, determined.

Perhaps he had been wrong about her fighting for coin rather than conviction.

“That’s something worth fighting for,” he said, his voice cracking.

She sat with him as the tears came again, and he buried his face back amongst the bedclothes.


End file.
